The FSFE files FOI request for Horizon 2020

on: 2017-01-10

The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) files
Freedom
of Information (FOI) request to the European Commission (EC) Directorate-General
for Research and Innovation, asking for information related to the use,
development and release of software under Horizon 2020, the biggest
EU research funding programme.

Software is a cardinal part of almost every research project in
Horizon 2020 and most of it is acquired or developed with public or
public-private funding. We are interested to figure out what percentage
of the funding is spent on proprietary licences and what percentage
of software developed within Horizon 2020 is released under Free Software
licences. Our aim is to aggregate this data and draw conclusions about
the situation of software in publicly funded research.

Do you monitor and/or collect data about the usage of IT and software
in Horizon 2020 projects, and specifically if projects use or develop
Free Software (also known as 'open source') ?

How many projects, both in numbers and in percentage of the overall
amount of research projects, are funded by Horizon 2020 to pay licence
fees for software? What are the top most paid licence fees for software
amongst Horizon2020 projects?

How much money was spent by Horizon 2020 during its most recent
"phase" on proprietary software licences? How much is this in comparison
to the overall funds of Horizon 2020?

How many projects in numbers and in percentage of the overall amount
of research projects funded by Horizon2020 develop software on their own?
What percentage of this software is kept proprietary and how much is
published under a licence approved by Free Software Foundation/Open
Source Initiative? Which are the most used Free Software/Open Source
licences in this regard?

You can help us spread the word by reading and sharing our
position paper or participating in the EC consultation on Horizon 2020.
This way you make sure that your voice demanding Free Software and Open
Standards in science is heard! You can take a look on how to do that at
the relevant wiki page.

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About FSFE

Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology.

Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our lives. It is important
that this technology empowers rather than restricts us. Free Software
gives everybody the rights to use, understand, adapt and share software.
These rights help support other fundamental rights like freedom of
speech, freedom of press and privacy.